Great Thing
Much of the text and research for this article was provided by User:Tar-Palantir, original on HUGE DARIUS BATTLESHIPS the website The Great Thing is a Sperm Whale. First appearing in the original Darius game. In most games in the Darius series it is the last boss of the game and usually from the start fires all it's got at the player including drill devices. Its Omega Zone's sucessor. History Taken from the famitsu.com on Darius Burst A flagship shaped like a sperm whale. The enemy troops and lesser command ships need an overarching command ship to act as the forces' core. This ship is not just the typical main command ship, but also one of the best of the Thiima-derivation vessels in combat by itself. Its extraordinarily high combat level did not drop at all when the Belser Army appropriated the Thiima technology for themselves. Earlier human vessels may have been impelled to upgrade their systems just by knowing about Great Thing. Fortunately, this vessel usually reserves the crest of its weaponry for high-threat situations. The signature weapon of Great Thing is a set of drill-like missiles fired from the bow, using antimatter warheads that can emit pulses like standard ordnance when destroyed prematurely. Gameplay Darius & Super Darius The worst part about Great Thing is that he always throws everything he's got at you. First of all he fires his front cannons and launches anchor thingies from his head. Then, he fires his big laser cannon and a killer whale from his mouth with explodes into a three-bullet arc aimed at you. He then cuts loose with all his anchor thingies (from the top AND bottom), and may or may not fire a drill missile from his forehead. All of this comes pretty much back to back. As long as you don't stay too long in one spot, you will survive. But keep a special eye out for the killer whale. A good place to be is roughly in line with the mouth so that you can blow up the killer whale as soon as it surfaces. Super Darius II This version is pretty much the same as the original. The main difference is that you can shoot at him on any part of its body, except his mouth. Sagaia This version is the last boss of Game Boy's Sagaia. On Darius and Super Darius, you can shoot at any part of his body in order to disarm him. On this game is the same, but it will be more complicated due to his homing missiles and the drill-like rockets launched from his mouth. It behaves pretty much like Hyper Great Thing, going around the screen and using its signature drill missile followed by 2 missiles from its underbelly (sometimes three missiles), laser shots and bullets from its cannons and a three bullet arc from cannons near the tail. However after destroying its front cannons, it will stop circling the screen and start to behave more like the original great thing, launching the drill attack and the missiles, plus a new bullet arc, all at once. Darius Gaiden Strictly speaking, he's Great Thing Mk.II according to this guy Kurabar from Taito. But who's counting. Guns, guns, guns are what Great Thing starts things off with. He has some regular straight lasers plus little fishes (descendants of the killer whales of before) which fire their own straight laser. Try and stay in line with them as they require a few shots to go down and their lasers can catch you with your pants down. One of the cannons on Great Thing's back then sprays you continously with lasers. Weave a bit so that there is place between each shot/stream of shots to move through. Eventually you will see his middle cannon sort of warm up. At this point, try and stay as far to the left and high as possible too. Then, the cannon fires a helical line-of-death laser a bit slowly so that you can move below it. Now move forward and upwards slowly and jerkily so that the laser follows you as such. It probably fires more for a time period, rather than to make a full sweep (if you've played Aria of Sorrow, Death's pillars of light work the same way). OK. You then move to his tail, where he throws anchor thingies and bullet arcs at you. As Great Thing pulls back, he then fires two balls from his ventral cannon which blow up buildings below (not smashing them with his tail out of displeasure- sorry!) and the debris can harm you. Fortunately it's not too easy to get hit with it. Then come the drills as before, but they release nasty bullet arcs if you blow them up. He then starts up a WICKED 90-degree laser from the big cannon above his eye. It is very important to stay above him while you dodge it, otherwise he can crush you from above. Eventually,you fly over him and a cannon near to his tail fires three laser streams while he piles on the anchor thingies. At the same time there are the pulsed bullet thingies from Neon Light Illusion to contend with too (*sniff*). This is pretty much his first attack cycle, which lasts as long as most of his cannons are still on him. Once all of them have gone, he then starts to shoot a massive seven-bullet arc stream from new cannons in his side; however, it can be easily dodged by simply flying over his head and bombing the crap out of him. Things move back to the tail and he fires homing laser (the big twisty beam type) after homing laser. Not difficult to dodge, just tiresome. And these attacks cycle almost endlessly, with some drills or little fishes (in larger quantities than before, natch) from Great Thing's head to liven up the monotony. It seemed to me that he had far too many hit points here. You are likely to be harassed by the rotating cubes here, and this can really cramp you with the tail attacks. G-Darius He is the final boss of the lowest zone,simply known as G.T. If in boss rush he will be known as G.T.(Great Thing) and thats with the () things. He fires his beam from his head, moves around the screen and sprays an exaggerated amount of bullets. He also traditionally gives the best ending (if you dont like romantic style). Dariusburst Great Thing is huge. Just past of his face covers nearly half the screen, and if you were to try to fit all of him on the screen, it would not be possible. When Great Thing enters the screen, it will be facing the player and begin using its main attack pattern, which will be repeated in parts of the fight. This consists of a pair of 3-way aimed spreads of red bullets and multiple homing arrow drones. After a while, it will move downwards until its top half is completely visible, and start firing 4 purple homing lasers out its top while one set of cannons fires twin orange beams. Midway through this pattern, the side horn will fire a non-Burst purple laser, then continue. Next, Great Thing pulls back and reappears facing the screen, with its right flank facing the player. 3 top cannons will flip down. The first and third fire pairs of orange lasers, while the centre one fires bursts of 3 pairs of cube shots which turn into aimed grey shots when destroyed. Simultaneously, purple homing lasers will come out of Great Thing's top and the horn will fire 5 arrow drones every couple seconds. After a while, the boss will tilt downwards and charge a non-Burst purple laser which fires upwards, then continue with this pattern. When Great Thing reappears, it will stay for a while, then pull off into the background, leaving 3 of its minions in a vertical column and a spread of yellow orbs downwards. Each minion attacks in this manner: *Fires 4 way spreads of red bullets *Fires a purple homing laser that homes in 3 times *Fires a straight line of yellow bullets *Fires a Burst beam that lasts barely half a second *Teleports away When Great Thing returns, it will resume its regular attack pattern, then pull off into the background, letting its entire left flank face you. These cannons will fire orange lasers and cube shots. After a while, the three cannons on its tail will charge and fire three non-Burst purple beams which sweep the left and top half of the screen. Midway through the beams, the minions will be summoned again, and Great Thing will leave. When it returns, it will start its regular attack pattern again, but with a twist - the drill missiles are back! This time, they do not explode into small shots when destroyed, but instead leave behind a small, damaging explosion. However, not destroying them creates a large, long lasting explosion when they detonate. Use your Burst beam to handle these missiles before they eat your onscreen real estate. After this, Great Thing returns, but with its top facing the screen. The two horns will continue spamming arrow drones, while the two side cannons send out pairs of orange lasers. however, the greatest threat is from the pink homing lasers, which are fired up and down alternately before they home in to you. Finally, Great Thing fires purple lasers from its two horns to trap you. Next, it will do the exact same thing, but with one critical difference - the central cannon has popped up and is charging with red energy! By this time, you should know what to do if you can do it - pull out your Burst Beam and counter. This should put Great Thing out of its misery, rewarding you with an ending for all your hard work. Dariusburst Another Chronicle/Chronicle Saviours There are three variants of Great Thing: the regular Great Thing, G.T.V (Violet) and G.T.B (Black). G.T.V was introduced in Unlock A, and G.T.B was introduced in Unlock B. Compared to Great Thing from the original Dariusburst and Second Prologue, G.T. and its variants all have an additional spread of 10 red bullets during their main attack pattern, fired from the side "horn". When either of the two variants faces its right flank to the player ship, the horn also fires pink curving homing lasers. In addition, the orange lasers during the main attack pattern have been replaced by dark blue 90º homing lasers that will track twice. Finally, the two variants have significantly more health than their original counterpart, enough that the boss fights against these two can last up to seven minutes with one player. Great Thing The original Great Thing plays much like its Dariusburst counterpart, except for the minor alterations to the attack pattern, also carried on to its variants. In addition, its health has become high enough that the rest of its attack pattern now poses a significant threat. After Bursting, Great Thing flips so that it is upside down and facing the left. The horn now fires pairs of pink curvy homing lasers and sets of 6 arrow drones. When the drones stop firing, Great Thing will fire another purple laser straight across the screen, then another one sweeping from top to bottom in an arc. This is followed by 2 sets of purple homing lasers and one drill missile. Great Thing then shoots one more laser sweeping from bottom to top in an arc, again followed by 2 sets of purple homing lasers and one drill missile. Finally, all other attacks will stop, and Great Thing fires one last laser sweeping from top to bottom in an arc. Great Thing will then continue with the pink homing lasers and drones, then pull away to the right while firing three drill missiles. Ignore the last two - they don't pose a threat even if they explode. When Great Thing reappears again, it will move down to expose its top, whose turrets unload all their orange lasers, cube shots and purple homing lasers at you, then moves downwards to leave its minions, this time in a horizontal line. After a while, Great Thing will come back facing the right. All top-mounted turrets continue unloading their respective shots, while the three rear turrets will fire purple non-Burst lasers at an angle in sequence, then sweep them downwards. Great Thing will be slowly moving further to the right during this phase, so watch out! Great Thing will then expose its six-segmented underbelly, which fires a HUMONGOUS amount of yellow lasers. If your ship can Burst, use it now to protect yourself from the bullet hell which awaits. Finally, the tail will fire two purple multi-homing lasers before the attack pattern repeats from the start. G.T.V Most of G.T.V's attack pattern is similar to that of the original Great Thing's, albeit with more/faster bullets. However, there are a couple of signifcant differences that deserve significant attention. At first, G.T.V will enter the main attack pattern, but slower yellow bullets are also fired whenever the three-way aimed bursts are fired, clogging up the screen quickly. The boss will also not hesitate in using its drill missiles - they start from the beginning of the fight as soon as the purple homing lasers are fired. The purple laser that comes from the horn is also conspicuously missing. After this, G.T.V will move backwards, then charge back forwards, leaving its top half exposed. All front-facing turrets will now unload blue laser spam to the right, while turrets at 45 degrees will fire cube shots. The horn will still continue with its arrow drones. In terms of lasers, the side-mounted double turret will first fire a dual purple laser that sweeps the bottom of the screen. Next, the top two large front turrets will pop up and fire two Burst Beams that sweep from horizontal to 45 degrees and back. Great Thing and G.T.B also have this attack pattern, but do not use it until after he begins to repeat his attack patterns (although normally you wouldnt be fighting for this long). G.T.V will now face its right flank to the player ship. The attack pattern is nearly the same, except that the orange lasers have been replaced by faster firing red and blue lasers. G.T.V follows up with its main attack pattern, sans drill missiles. After this, it will leave its bottom half facing the player, deploy minions (which are exactly the same as Great Thing's) while a chin-mounted turret pops up and fires a Burst beam from horizontal to 45 degrees downwards. As usual, counter to destroy the minions and get some damage on G.T.V. Again, Great Thing and G.T.B also have this attack pattern, but do not use it until after beginning to repeat the attack patterns (although normally you wouldn't be fighting the original for this long). G.T.V will return again facing the left, then roll away into the background, leaving its minions again. As expected, it returns to do its regular attack pattern again, then pulls away into the background to expose its entire left flank. All the orange lasers have been replaced by bursts of blue lasers and the tail laser beams are a little thicker, but this should not be a significant problem. As the boss leaves, the minions will return in a horizontal line. When the boss returns, it will perform the first two attack patterns that it did in the fight (the regular attack pattern, followed by blue laser spam + dual purple beams + dual Burst laser). After this, it will flip so that its top faces the screen. The first half of this pattern (before the horns fire lasers) is the same as that of Great Thing. You may have noticed that the horns have not fired lasers at all through this half of the attack pattern. They have been upgraded to thick green beams that LEAVE A MASSIVE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION NEAR THEIR ENDS. Stay close to G.T.V for your safety during this attack and when the Burst Beam is added. The rest of the attack pattern is exactly the same as that of Great Thing's, apart from the upgraded horn lasers. G.T.B G.T.B is almost the same as G.T.V, except with the pattern following the normal Great Thing but having added homing and otherwise faster bullets, a new theme song in "finale" and the horn lasers leave four of those HUGE nuclear explosions when they are fired, making the attack patterns featuring them a major pain to dodge. However, if you are familiar with defeating G.T.V, then G.T.B should be a challenge, but not an impossible one. He is quite possibly the hardest Darius boss now with G.T.V. just behind him. Gallery Image:GThing1.gif|As seen in Darius in Zone Z (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GThing3.gif|As seen in Darius in Zone Z (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GThing4.gif|As seen in Darius in Zone Z (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GThing.gif|As seen in Super Darius in Zone Z (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GThing2.gif|As seen in Super Darius in Zone Z (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) darius4_5.gif|As seen in Super Darius Zone Z Image:GreatThing1.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing2.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing3.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing4.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing5.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing6.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing7.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing8.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GreatThing9.gif|As seen in Darius Gaiden in Zone Z1 (Screen Cap taken by Tar-Palantir) Image:GDGT01.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U Image:GDGT02.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U Image:GDGT03.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U Image:GDGT04.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U Image:GDGT05.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U Image:GDGT06.png|As seen in G-Darius in Zone Omicron Area U E382B0E383ACE383BCE38388E382B7E383B3E382B0.jpg|As seen in Dariusburst Zone K グレートシング.png|As seen in Dariusburst: Second Prologue Zone K Great Thing.png|As seen on Dariusburst: Another Chronicle website|link=http://darius.jp/dbac/game/battleships_18_gt.html DBGreatThing.png|As seen on a website of Dariusburst Category:Boss Category:Darius Character Category:Super Darius Character Category:Sagaia Character Category:Darius Gaiden Character Category:Captain Category:Super Darius II Character Category:G-Darius Character Category:Dariusburst Character